General means something that applies in lots of different places/situations. I’m not sure memes about religious enlightenment applies in lots of places/situations; they seem to be dependent on weird states of mind and for weird purposes.
The aspect of abstract that is most relevant is probably avoiding excessive detail. Detail is expensive to transmit, so ideas with very brief accurate descriptions are better at spreading than ideas that require a lot of context. But this is not the only aspect of abstractness, as abstractness also tends to be about something only being a thought and not having concrete physical existence.
“A cow” is abstract and general, Betty the cow who you have years of experience with is concrete.
Abstract and general are spectra. I agree that the maximally-specific is not good at spreading—but neither is the maximally-general
General might be more relevant than abstract.
General means something that applies in lots of different places/situations. I’m not sure memes about religious enlightenment applies in lots of places/situations; they seem to be dependent on weird states of mind and for weird purposes.
The aspect of abstract that is most relevant is probably avoiding excessive detail. Detail is expensive to transmit, so ideas with very brief accurate descriptions are better at spreading than ideas that require a lot of context. But this is not the only aspect of abstractness, as abstractness also tends to be about something only being a thought and not having concrete physical existence.